In Memoriam: Michael Mazur, 1935-2009

This issue of AGNI was very close to going to the printer when we received the news of Michael Mazur’s death. Mike was a longtime friend of the magazine, as his wife, poet Gail Mazur, continues to be. He was also a valued contributor, appearing as the covered artist of AGNI 54 and the featured artist in AGNI 68. That recent issue brought together a portfolio of Mike’s illustrations of select passages from Dante (translated by Robert Pinsky) and a DVD of Good to Pull, a short film by Robert Gardner of the artist at work in his studio. Mike exhibited characteristic generosity by donating a signed print of one of the images for a fundraising raffle at AGNI’s publication party last fall.

Though time was quickly running out, we wanted to mark the loss. The day after we heard the news, we contacted various members of our literary and artistic community, people who we knew had been close to Mike, and asked for some words of commemoration. Given the lack of lead-time and the fact that this was one of the prime vacation weeks of the summer, we received very strong response. We print the reflections and reminiscences here as a way of remembering a man who inspired and continues to inspire.